Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

Fall TV 2011 – October

While we tv fans were all kept busy in September with the rush of series and season premieres, a few shows (ones of particular interest to a genre fan like myself) waited until October to make their appearances. Dueling fairy tale shows, the return of cable series Sanctuary and Psych, and spy-fi comedy Chuck make…

Fall TV 2011 – week 3

Apologies for being a bit late to posting, but I have to say, this season’s stock of new shows is proving to be more quantity than quality. Here’s another 10 shows that I’ve watched this week (without many standouts). Happy Endings is back after a brief showing at the end of last season. This Friends–How…

Fall TV 2011 – week 2

Didn’t I tell you that week two was going to be packed? There are over 20 new and returning shows that I want to talk about, so I’ll try to make it quick and rapid-fire (try to keep up). I’m getting a bit tired of Glee with its “We’re so unpopular that we still get…

Fall TV 2011 – week 1

This year, we are in for a pretty packed month of premieres, and there are a number of new shows that I’m looking forward to checking out as well. The CW is the first out of the gate, debuting some of their new series ahead of the other major networks. In particular, they brought back…

Fifteen Flicks for Fall 2011

1. Dream House (9/30) Daniel Craig is my idol, so having him star in a creepy, twisty, Sixth Sense style thriller with his real-life wife Rachel Weisz — sign me up! 2. Real Steel (10/7) I’m not really a fan of boxing movies. They seem to follow a very predictable arc, and I just don’t…

Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Movie Review

Ever since I went to the gorilla habitat at the zoo and found my eyes watering from (what I thought were) allergies, I haven’t been a big fan of apes. Nevertheless, the movie trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes looked pretty good. As a prequel to the classic sci-fi series where walking,…

Crazy, Stupid, Love – Movie Review

Why is this movie called Crazy, Stupid, Love? It wasn’t really so crazy for Steve Carrell’s character to want to reinvent himself after his wife (played by Julianne Moore) ended their marriage. It wasn’t stupid for Ryan Gosling’s stylish womanizer to fall in love with the ever-charming Emma Stone. And frankly, it wasn’t love when…

Captain America: The First Avenger – Movie Review

How many superhero movies is too many? After watching three others, I was not exactly eager for Captain America to make his way to the big screen. I was not a big Cap fan, anyway. I like the guys with more spectacular powers than mere strength and longevity. I also wasn’t interested in a character…

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 – Movie Review

As a total fan who has lost all objectivity when it comes to anything Potter-related, the biggest surprise about the seeing the final movie was how it wasn’t a sad experience. I don’t want to use cliches like “the end of an era”, but reading seven un-short books and watching eight un-short movies is quite…